WWF Superstars of Wrestling

For the current television series based on this series, see WWE Superstars.

WWF Superstars of Wrestling
Format	Professional wrestling Sports entertainment
Created by	Vince McMahon
Starring	World Wrestling Federation alumni
Country of origin	USA
Production
Running time	46 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndicated (1986 - 1996) USA Network (1996-2000) TNN (2000-2001)
Original run	1986 – 2001

WWF Superstars of Wrestling was a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It debuted on September 6, 1986. Superstars, as it would later be known, was the flagship program of the WWF's syndicated programming from its inception until the premiere of Monday Night Raw in 1993.

History

Early format

In 1986, Superstars replaced WWF Championship Wrestling. Before that, Superstars was the name of a weekly recap show hosted by Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes. Superstars was where all the angles began and at times ended and where the majority of title changes took place if not at a pay-per-view event (e.g. WrestleMania or SummerSlam). Matches primarily saw top tier and mid-level talent versus jobbers; pre-taped interviews with the WWF's roster of superstars; and promos featuring the wrestlers. At times, there was a "feature" match between main WWF talent. As with all syndicated WWF programming, another major aspect of the show was to promote house shows and TV tapings in each market.

During its syndication run, the program was rebranded and aired in Canada as Maple Leaf Wrestling, despite having almost no Canadian content other than interviews promoting matches that were to be held in Canada, along with occasional program-exclusive matches taped at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario.

The show began airing in 1986 in the United Kingdom on Saturday nights on The Sky Channel. For a short time, it was shown on Tuesdays on Eurosport. Early in the 1990s, it was featured in a Friday night time slot. In the mid-1990s, Superstars was then moved to a Sunday morning time slot.

Notable championship matches

Many of these title changes were not aired for up to several weeks after they took place. As these shows were aired in an era before the Internet, the previous title holder sometimes defended his title at house shows as though he were still the champion until the title change was aired on television.

• The Hart Foundation beating the British Bulldogs for the WWF World Tag Team Championship on February 7, 1987 (taped January 26, 1987).
• The Honky Tonk Man defeating Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat for the WWF Intercontinental Championship on June 13, 1987 (taped June 2, 1987).
• Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) beating the Hart Foundation for the WWF World Tag Team Championship on November 7, 1987 (taped October 27, 1987).
• Demolition defeating the Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) for the WWF World Tag Team Championship on November 4, 1989 (taped October 2, 1989).
• The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) beating Demolition for the WWF World Tag Team Championship on December 30, 1989 (taped December 13, 1989).
• Mr. Perfect defeating Tito Santana for the vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship on May 19, 1990 (taped April 23, 1990).
• Mr. Perfect beating Kerry Von Erich for the WWF Intercontinental Championship on December 15, 1990 (taped November 19, 1990).
• Diesel defeating Razor Ramon for the WWF Intercontinental Championship on April 30, 1994 (taped April 13, 1994).

Change in format

Superstars ended its syndication run in September 1996, moving to the USA Network. At that point, the program mixed weekly summaries of the events that occurred on WWF programming with some additional show exclusive matches.

In 1997, the format of Superstars as aired in the United Kingdom also changed and began to only feature weekly summaries of Monday Night Raw. Following the premiere of SmackDown!, Superstars served as a summary show for SmackDown! as well.

When the WWF moved its cable TV contract to TNN (now Spike) in 2000, Superstars moved with it. The show was then discontinued in 2001.

Commentators

The commentary team on Superstars underwent many changes as the years passed. The hosts of Superstars are listed below in chronological order along with their debut episode.

• Vince McMahon, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Bruno Sammartino (September 6, 1986)
• McMahon and Ventura (March 19, 1988)
• McMahon and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (August 25, 1990)
• McMahon, Piper, and the Honky Tonk Man (November 8, 1990)
• McMahon, Piper, and Randy "Macho Man" Savage (March 30, 1991)
• McMahon and Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig (November 30, 1991)
• McMahon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (briefly, after Mr. Perfect's face turn in 1992)
• McMahon, Heenan and Jerry "the King" Lawler
• McMahon, Savage, and Lawler (December 11, 1992)
• McMahon and Lawler
• McMahon and Reo Rodgers (for one week only)
• McMahon and Stan Lane
• McMahon and Johnny Polo
• McMahon and Dok Hendrix (April 15, 1995)
• McMahon, Jim Ross, and Lawler
• McMahon, Ross, and Hennig (December 2, 1995)
• Ross and Hennig
• Ross and Jim Cornette (November 10,1996)

External links

• WWE Superstars at the Internet Movie Database
• WWE Superstars at TV.com